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I am an (ashamed) African…

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lmKFTadTk8&w=500&h=400]With all the sad things going on in this beautiful country of ours I posted the following on Facebook yesterday and decided to repost it on the PEDP blog today.  I know its not Port Elizabeth being featured specifically, but it has all the relevance in the world to all of us.There has been many memorable speeches in history. Martin Luther King's "I have a dream", Winston Churchill's "We shall fight on the beaches", Emmeline Pankhurst's "Freedom or Death" and…

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21/04/2015
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Last Beetle off the Uitenhage line

The last South African-made Volkswagen Beetle came off the production line on 18 January 1979 and went straight into the Volkswagen museum which later became the VW AutoPavilion.  The metallic bronze Beetle was the last of 288 353 built at Uitenhage plant 1951.  The car only had 200km on the clock when a vehicle carrier overturned on the way back from a show in Cape Town in 2006, destroying nine of the AutoPavilion's most important historic cars, including this one.  It was decided though to…

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20/04/2015
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AutoPavilion Geocache

One of my favorite geocaches done lately was one located inside the VW AutoPavilion in Uitenhage.  The coordinates take you to the museum itself from where you have to follow the instructions in the cache description.  These tell you to look for the blue racing car and to get in to find the cache.  I'm giving this one away a bit, but the container is muggle proof so doing so isn't the end of the world.  The cache container turned out…

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18/04/2015
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Snorkeling with an otter in Schoenies

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CZRcQfR3DA&w=500&h=400]I found this video on YouTube posted in 2013 by Brad Taylor of him and his dad snorkeling in a gully in Schoenmakerskop.  To their surprise they were joined by an otter.  Now there's something that doesn't happen every day.

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17/04/2015
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St Katharines in Uitenhage

A little caching expedition took me to St Katharine Church in Uitenhage the other day.  The foundation stone, which cannot be found today, was laid in 1867 and it is from this date that the anniversaries are counted, although the building (as in construction) only began in 1869.  It was completed in 1875 after many financial constraints and problems and dedicated that same year by Rev. William Llewellyn.  It was named by him after St. Katharine, an eighth century Egyptian Princess who was beautiful…

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16/04/2015
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AutoPavilion garage

The VW AutoPavilion in Uitenhage doesn't just have some awesome exhibits inside the facility, there are also a couple of outside exhibits.  One of them being this replica roadhouse and garage.

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15/04/2015
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The VW AutoPavilion – a world class attraction

A quick trip out to Uitenhage to fetch my drivers license had me pop into the VW AutoPavilion briefly and even though I was in and out quickly I just realised again how much of a world class attraction it is.  We really are very fortunate to have it right on our doorstep but I often wonder how much more popular it would have been if it was in Port Elizabeth and able to attract more visitors.  Locals tend to be a bit…

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14/04/2015
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Drive carefully at Seal Point Nature Reserve

The Seal Point Nature Reserve in Cape St Francis is home to the SANCCOB penguin sanctuary which is situated right next to the historic Seal Point Lighthouse.  From St Francis Way there is a short road that takes visitors to the lighthouse and SANCCOB centre and it is at this intersection that SANCCOB has erected this very interesting warning sign.  Can you name the animals you have to watch out for as you drive into and walk around the reserve?

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13/04/2015